Category: 2008

So I’m writing this from a much colder place even given the unseasonable weather we had in Orlando.

The final day was pretty uneventful.  We managed to pack everything – just – but had to expand both our cases.  They didn’t weigh very much though, both under 23kg even though we had a 32kg limit in Premium.  Paul seemed to end up with most of the presents as I had to get all my own purchases in!  We did bring our small cases too.  We ended up with everything except my teddy packed.  Since the world and his wife seem to have more then 1 piece of hand luggage on most Orlando flights – especially cuddly Disney toys – I decided to carry him (him doesn’t have a name yet and needs one).

We packed the owners closet and tidied the house and were all ready to leave at about 2pm.  Paul managed to have one last swim which was good.

We decided to go over to the FL Mall again as I wanted to get something for my Brother.  We managed to do so and also found something else for him in Macys.  I don’t think he’ll read this blog but I best not say just in case.  We’re still 2 presents short so will have to do some shopping at home.

We left the mall and had some lunch at McDonalds (yet more unhealthy stuff).  The traffic was absolutely horrendous – no idea where everyone was going on a Saturday at 5pm but it was the busiest we’ve ever seen it so we set out for the airport.

We dropped the awful car back at Dollar; it really had been bad and was on its last legs.  We checked in quite quickly at the Premium queue but sadly there were no upgrades or exit seats available.  We had about an hour to kill before boarding and with no lounge access decided to try and find a quiet part of the airport away from the “marauding” brits.  We found somewhere and Paul could log into his laptop so the hour went quickly.

The other Virgin flights were all very delayed.  We found out later that Gatwick had been closed for 5 hours Friday causing the delays but we never found out why.  The Gatwick flight was not scheduled to take off until 11:30pm so we were so grateful we weren’t on that.  The early Manchester flight was delayed to about the same time as ours so we were lucky really.  We got to the gate about 8pm – it was heaving!  They had delayed boarding until 8:40 so more waiting!

Because of the tail winds the flight time was set to be just over 7 hours – that’s well quick from Orlando.  We eventually got on and away on what was to be a bumpy flight.  Paul had checked the flying websites he uses so we expected it.  It was ok to begin with right until just after dinner.  Dinner was horrible BTW.  Paul had a seafood option which he couldn’t even eat and I had a chicken dish that looked like a Denny’s senior meal!  Both were pretty foul and we were glad of the cheese and biscuits to fill us up.  After dinner I went to the loo and got about 2 steps before the Captain turned on the sest belt sign – typical.  It was then on for about 2 hours and whilst bumpy sometimes it was quite smooth for a lot of it.  People were going to the loo despite the sign being on – Paul being one of them!  The flight path took us high; up the Eastern seaboard coast and over just under Iceland.  The belt sign went on a few times but it was never really bad, just mildly bumpy.

We couldn’t sleep much in those seats – we missed our flat beds and duvets – so listened to our ipods.  We landed at 10am to a cold and misty Manchester.  We quickly got through immigration despite not using the IRIS channel – we couldn’t find it to be truthful!  Then got to the luggage belt.  My case came off in about 10 mins then we waited, and waited, and waited…….  We both started to get a bad feeling that the case with all the gifts in had gone walk about.  There were still lots of people around and cases being unloaded so we had no choice but to wait.  I thought I saw it at one point but it never seemed to come back around if I did.  Eventually after about 45 mins it turned up.  How on earth they get so seperated I don’t know.  Just another reason to go back to upper class with priority bags!!

We got out of Manchester at about half 11 and were home by 1pm.  We did little but sleep, unpack and sleep some more.  We even heard the X Factor results on the Radio on the way home so that was spoiled for us!!

It’s all becoming a distant memory now….for 6 weeks anyway….bring on January!!

I’ll have no one to type to but may keep a journal anyway….

Until then….

moscow

Today will be my last blog written in Florida this trip as in a few hours I have to board a plane back to old Blighty – Gutted.

I’ll try and add more when I am home to finish off the trip but firstly let’s cover yesterday’s events. We slipped into our usual routine of staying around the villa for the morning. Having brunch, checking emails and writing blogs! We eventually set out about 1pm. It was very cold so we had lots of layers on. We took an initial stop off at Downtown Disney as we wanted to buy some gifs and a Tink hoodie (for me obviously!). With our annual passes we get 10% discount in the World of Disney store at Marketplace Downtown. We also wanted to but Candy Canes to take back to work but can you believe nowhere in Disney sold them? We were amazed as we thought this was such an American Christmas tradition. We managed to get everything else we wanted and headed off to Magic Kingdom. By the time we got there, parked and travelled in on the monorail it was about 3:30. Since it was a day for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas party (that we went to on Tuesday) the park would close at 7pm so we didn’t have long. It was long enough though as we have done quite a lot of Disney this week and could really use a holiday now to relax after all the activity!!

We decided to go on Philharmagic first (Paul’s all time fave ride), then Pirates (probably both our second fave ride). Both had little or no queues which was good. The park itself seemed reasonably full but nothing seemed to have big queueus. Even big rides like Splash Mountain were only showing 10 mins – mind you given how cold it was who would want to be on a water ride?! We decided to use the steam train to get from Frontier Land to Tomorrow Land to rest our feet a bit. In Tomorrow Land we did Carousel of Progress (my all time fave ride) and rode the TTA. As the TTA train picked up speed and the wind blew it felt mighty cold. We looked in a few shops and went in an arcade too. In this Arcade there was a machine like a photo booth where you could make a silly DVD of yourselves singing. Since it was only 5 bucks and we are big idiots we decided to go for it!! We chose a suitable festive song for you and hopefully Paul will post it here on the blog for you to see. There were little instructions, no words printed and it took until about halfway for us to look at the camera but it’s the thought that counts so Merry Christmas to you all – enjoy!
There’s also a few more Disney pics.
I commented on how few character’s I’d seen in the parks. If I was a child on my first trip I’d have been very disappointed. We did see Buzz Lightyear briefly and Chip and Dale the Chipmunks but that was about it.

This was pretty much all we wanted to do in terms of rides but we had wanted to try and get a shot of the castle with its icicle lighting. We hadn’t got the camera on Tuesday so couldn’t take any pics. It was after 6 and dark but sadly no lighting. We figured they must turn it on at 7 for the start of the evening do so we would miss it again. We left just before 6:30 and on the monorail looking back guess what the Castle looked like? Yep, you guessed it, lit up in its icicle lights. We must have missed it by 5 mins – that’s been a bit of a theme this trip – remember the ears?

Since there was crowds of people leaving the park at this time and a huge queue for the monorail to the parking lot Paul reckoned we should go and get the Resort Monorail. Sure enough when you got closer to it the sign said that the second stop was the parking lot. We had to wait a little longer as the normal parking lot service was definitely more frequent but I’m pretty sure we still got on before we would have if we had queued – so there’s a tip for you if the Monorail queue is down to the bottom of the ramp. The one we used was still full but we got back to the car and out of the Park for about 7ish.

We had already decided we would go and watch the fireworks from the Polynesian beach and had brought out extra layers for this so had a couple of hours to kill. We hadn’t visited a Wall Mart so far this trip so thought that would be a good thing to do. We went to a new one just off I4 near the Universal end of I Drive. We got our candy canes for work as well as a few other bits – coat hangers for Paul and some vanilla candles. It was busy in both Premium and Wall Mart with Friday night shoppers.

We came out of WallMart and I wasn’t really hungry, plus we didn’t have that much time for dinner and we both said we fancied a Starbucks coffee so took a quick detour to Premium where we knew there was a Starbucks. Whilst in Premium we wanted to go to Rack Room shoes as this is where Paul gets his trainers. We somehow missed it when we were there earlier in the week. Paul managed to get 2 pairs although we both thought the price had gone up. I got some wickedly soft furry slipper boots too – they’re definitely coming home!

It was now about 8:45 so we needed to get over to the Polynesian. On the way into Disney everyone was being stopped by Security. Don’t know why. We parked up about 9:15 and added our extra layers and put our gloves on. It was so NOT Florida weather! We got to the beach and there were plenty of beds to sit on – it was nowhere near as popular as when it’s warm, surprise, surprise. We sat on a bed and huddled together for warmth. We seemed to sit for ages and still no fireworks. I checked my watch and it was 9:35 so they were definitely late. We had no idea why as we would not be able to hear any park announcements from there. We waited and waited and began to talk about giving up. Eventually at 9:45 they started. They do look good from this vantage point as you get the 360 effect really well. Paul even managed to get some video footage on the new camera, which should be posted here for you too.

Having waited so long we got back to car freezing and blasted the heating up! We were now hungry so decided to go to Applebees. Being Friday they serve food right up to 1:30am. Paul had his usual dynamite shrimp and I had a chicken ceaser salad. We ended up getting home well after 11 again.

This morning we both had a bit of a lie in, put some washing on and are now having to think about packing 🙁 We’ll leave most stuff our here but have to get all the Christmas shopping back.

Like I said, I’ll try and finish off the trip with any more that we do after I get home. See you all real soon (to quote a famous mouse).

So today is the day that all is revealed. Yesterday we went to the Gaylord Palms to the exhibition……. ICE. It is a walk through series of rooms each with a display of some sort that is carved entirely from ice. It was excellent and we took loads of pics for you which Paul will add to this blog.

We paid $14 (instead of $20) as we managed to get a discount although parking was $12, which is a rip off, but since they have a captive audience they can get away with it.

The weather had started to clear by lunchtime, the rain stopped and the wind dropped and it was starting to brighten up. We got to the Gaylord about 2ish.

We went pretty much straight in through an avenue of lit up Christmas trees. There was then a couple of rooms with short films about what we about to see and the obligatory ‘elf and safety messages 🙂 After this we had to get our parka’s on. They were issued to everyone and came in M, L, XL and XXXXL. I was ever so slightly offended when the server insisted I was large and not medium!! We had our own gloves and several layers on as it was 9 degrees F inside. That’s about minus 13 which believe me was COLD!! Like I said it was great but I definitely came out colder than ever.

As we went through there were animals, a nativity scene, coloured baubles, candy and a giant ice slide that we both rode! I managed to go down pretty fast with a push from Paul. Paul seemed to come to a halt about ¾ of the way down. There was also a giant Santa who’s knee we sat on for a photo! Since we had to keep taking off our gloves to take the pics our hands got really cold. Some people ahead of us were wearing shorts, their legs must have been freezing.

The whole thing took about 40 minutes which was enough and it was good to get out into the warm afterwards. We then wandered through the hotel to the atrium where we got complimentary hot coca. There was also a gnome hunt around the atrium and Paul had picked up the book of clues so wanted to find them. It was clues and challenges with nothing much at the end of it but kept us amused for a while. We found about half of them before we gave up.

We left the Gaylord, getting $2 off the extortionate parking, at about 4pm. We drove straight over to the FL Mall. It was really busy there. We managed to get some more xmas presies and have al most done our shopping now. A few shops have just started to discount stuff, one tried to charge us full price until I brought the discounted label to their attention!! Paul managed to get a work shirt and I got some perfume and a cuddly teddy (one day I’ll grow up but I hope not). In Saks there was a Christmas evening event too. There was a DJ (that’s a disc jockey not a dinner suit but I’m thinking you guessed that!) blasting out trendy music and there was free food and drink on offer. I bought my Jo Malone perfume there and we got given loads of free samples too. We declined the food and drink – even the Godiva chocolates and champers – as we had dinner booked at Kobe for half 7 and it was already after 6:30pm.

We left the Mall and went straight to Kobe. Paul was getting huge withdrawal symptoms from not going there yet this trip! We had booked so sat down pretty much straight away. We were at a table alone for about 5 minutes wondering who was going to join us. Eventually a lot of loud women turned up and milled around for a bit.

I will say right now, the service was pretty poor as we had a new chef who was slower than ever but the entertainment was first rate and more then made up for it! The women turned out to be “tour moms” with their cheerleading daughters. There is a competition at the weekend to find the national champs.

They were all very loud, funny and definitely drunk!! Next to us was a 45 year old (yes she told us her age) called Angie. She began by talking politics but that soon degenerated!! The chef turned up with the name badge Ken – who became affectionately known to all the moms as Kenny! A couple of renditions of “go, Kenny, go Kenny” with corresponding circular arm movements began the evenings’ entertainment. This was closely followed by “oh Kenny you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind, hey Kenny” to the tune of Hey Mickey if you hadn’t already worked that out. Toni Basil would not have been impressed! All this was at maximum volume level and Kenny looked scared!!! On top of this we had some fine humour such as “easy on the butter Kenny, I have to wear a thong tomorrow”. Angie even complained at one point that her kids said too often that “mom was drunk again” as she moralised to us about how people shouldn’t drink!!!!! She was crazy, but in a funny way, we were in stitches. She also kept yelling to everyone “this is Paul and Cindy from England, they’re nice”

We wanted to go to the Polynesian beach after Kobe to watch the fireworks and had booked the 7:30 table to be able to do so but with Kenny and the moms we didn’t get out of Kobe until 20 past 9 so couldn’t do the fireworks. Oh, yeah, at one point the moms complained to the manager that they were being told they could only share a meal by paying $7 for the privilege as this covered the salad and soup. They were ready to all walk out at one point which held up our dinner all the more.

We decided to come home and watched TV for a while instead.

Today it is cold but clear. We were planning Magic Kingdom but Paul has very achy feet so we may not do it for long. At least with the annual passes it doesn’t feel like a waste of a day if we just do a couple of hours.

Hope you like all the pics……

Well, weather-wise it just keeps getting better with Wednesday being the best day of all. The sun came through after lunch and we wore shorts and t-shirts all day – right up to after 11pm when we got home – it was really warm and sunny.

In the morning we sat out by the pool, had a leisurely brunch then went to Epcot – still not renamed to its former Epcot Centre and it seems that may only be a myth. We arrived about 2pm and it seemed quiet. We walked straight onto Spaceship Earth after quickly checking out our leave a legacy picture by the entrance. Some of them have worn badly but ours still looks good.
On Spaceship Earth our screen/computer malfunctioned so when we produced our story board at the end our faces were not super-imposed onto the pics. We wanted to mail you the postcard like we have done before but obviously couldn’t. Maybe we broke the camera!!

We had a quick stop in Innoventions where we went into a new extreme weather simulator. It was actually not that extreme (no where near as good as Twister at Universal) but being Epcot it was very educational teaching us what house building tools and techniques are best to survive a hurricane.

After this we headed to the Land deciding to get a Fast Pass for Soarin’ as this is still the best ride in Epcot. The return time was 8pm to 9pm which was about the latest we would have wanted but decided to get them as it would be a good way to end the day. Whilst in the Land pavilion we rode the Land ride – again we walked right on with no queue, and also went into Circle of Life. We hadn’t done this for a while and both decided to do it again. It’s a bit preachy and moralistic but ok.

We left the Land and headed over to the Seas to ride with Nemo. Although primarily for kids this is a very cute and clever ride – especially at the end where Nemo and friends appear to be in the aquarium tanks with the real fish. Definitely worth riding.

We came out and decided to take a pit stop for shops and coffee. I got yet more Tinkerbell T-shirts (another 3 this trip I think) and we picked up a few gifts.

After coffee and a well-earned rest in the sun we headed to Ellen’s Universe of Energy. This ride is starting to get a little dated but it still 45 minutes well spent! We must know it pretty much word for word and have to try hard not to spoil other guests’ enjoyment by pre-empting everything that is said!!

It was now about 6pm and getting dark so we headed to the World Show Case. We decided to go around anti-clockwise for a change so we could have fish and chips for dinner from England. We both commented on how badly stereotypical England is and how the Americans love to think of us in that quaint way. The chips we pretty good though and very popular with the Americans. We even heard two parties practising ordering in their best English accents which they then did when they got to the counter!!

We walked right round the other countries, as it got dark. There was a huge choir at America with a big queue. I think they offered candlelight dining to the choir. Whatever it was it was very popular.

We got to Norway and rode Maelstrom. There was a 20 minute wait but we had time and both do like this ride. We marched straight through the film at the end; as did all the other riders – they must get so annoyed at that!

We also rode the Gran Fiesta tour at Mexico – both commenting that we preferred the old version before they updated it with Donald. We must be getting old and set in our ways not liking change!!!

We came out of the Show Case at about 7:45 – just in time to head over to Soarin’ and use our Fast Passes. On the way we stopped at a couple of photo spots which Paul has uploaded to this blog.

We walked right onto Soarin’ and finally got seats in the front and highest row. We were off to the side but you can’t have everything – we’ve always wanted the highest row and this is the first time we’ve got it. The film was very dirty with lots of marks over it but the ride was as good as ever. The Orange and Pine smells were very strong this time. By the time we came out it was just after 9pm. Illuminations started at 9:30 but Paul had tired feet so we decided to skip it and leave.

We wanted to go to Target before we came home to buy a camera to use at the Gaylord event. Don’t you just love this country where you can head to the shop at 10pm to buy whatever you want? We selected the one we wanted after much deliberation and were then told it was out of stock! We were at the one on the 192 so the server looked up other stores and told us that Millenia had stock. Since they are open to 11pm we headed over. We did get the one we wanted – which Paul has been playing with for most of the morning. We will probably leave it out here.
Are you on tenterhooks about the Gaylord event? I hope it’s not a big anti-climax!

Today the weather could not be more different – we are on a tornado warning!! The rain is torrential and the wind is howling (which kept us awake for much of the night). No swimming today. The Gaylord event is indoors and afterwards we are going to the Florida Mall so at least we should avoid the weather. We only hope it gets better for tomorrow as we are off to Magic Kingdom again. The forecast is for clear but cold which is ok as we can wrap up.

Today we are both a bit snivelly too – there is a lot of man flu going around. Hopefully it won’t take hold and we’ll all be better soon.

More again tomorrow…

So, Tuesday was definitely a nice day weather-wise, despite being very cloudy until well past lunchtime. We headed to the Dolphin hotel about 12:30 after booking some tickets on-line for a very special event at the Gaylord Palms. We’re off to it on Thursday so you’ll have to wait until after that to read what it is (I am such a tease!)

It was still a little cloudy by the pool at the Dolphin but we managed to don shorts for the first time quite comfortably. The Cabana restaurant was fairly empty, in fact the hotel seemed very quiet with only one or two people by the pool. The majority of people we saw seemed to be attending conventions of some sort.

Paul ordered a burger and I had chicken BLT – both with waffle fries, which are particularly nice from there (nice is such a terrible word but you know what I mean). We did have to pay the full whack for parking this time ($10) and since the Swan and Dolphin are not Disney owned we get no discount for being annual pass holders.

When we left we decided to go to I-Drive to try and do some more xmas shopping.

I wanted to go to some of the outlets too. My fave and Paul’s least fave is the Neiman Marcus last call – loads of designer labels all discounted heavily. Despite trying on a few pairs of shoes I bought nothing! I did fall in love with some black suede Manolo Blahnik boots but even discounted they were way too much.

We then headed to TJ Maxx. Paul managed to get some more Polo shirts and I got a couple of pairs of jeans. Prices are all about the same as always in there so whilst good they are tainted by the poor exchange rate currently – still cheaper than home in many cases though. We also went to my beloved Nine West outlet. All boots were 50% off so I managed to get 2 pairs (long and ankle). Even with the poor exchange rate they were much cheaper than home.

We continued down I-Drive to Premium. It was under some sort of construction work last time we were there which is now all finished. They have actually added a whole new aisle of shops. We managed to get a few more xmas presies here so are doing quite well on that front. It was quite busy and as always we don’t think the prices are all that good, it’s a bit of a tourist trap. We also had to buy a pair of gloves each. We need them for Thursday’s event – there’s a little clue for you – and no peeking on the Gaylord website!

It was getting to about 6pm and we had tickets for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas party so needed to think about heading over to Magic Kingdom. We had a change of clothes in the car so quickly scrambled into them in the car park!

On the way to Magic Kingdom we stopped off at 7-11 for drinks and as I waited in the car I witnessed an accident. A woman in a Merc reversed right into some kind of small Chevvy and the Chevvy definitely came off worst. We have noticed this trip the standard of driving is worse than ever. It’s no wonder there are so many accidents.

Anyway, we got to MK and parked up. The event was sold out so we knew the park would be heaving. We used the Monorail and even with a slight queue got to the park entrance quite quickly. As we got onto Main Street people were already starting to wait for the first parade so we thought we’d take the opportunity to do some rides whilst everyone else was watching the parade. We did Pirates, Small World and Paul’s favourite Philharmagic. All were as good as ever and all had no queues at all.

We stopped for some sustenance in the form or McD’s fries again (typical US and Disney non healthy options!) and then headed over to find a viewing spot for the fireworks. Right in front of the Castle is the best place and we managed to find a great spot. It was very busy and crowded so we were lucky. The Castle was all lit up with special Christmas lighting that makes it look iced up – it looked really good.

The fireworks kicked off on time at 9:30. They were 360 like Pirates and Princesses and Hallowishes but we thought not as good as these 2. Hallowishes is my fave and P&P is Paul’s. Still superb though as all Disney fireworks are.

Afterwards we went back to Tomorrow Land to ride the TTA. As we went through Space Mountain the queue looked quite long. Since Carousel of Progress is not open at the evening events (my all time favourite ride EVER) we went over to the Castle where there was a show. It was the usual characters, Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy in a Christmas special singing Christmas songs and dancing around. As soon as it was over we headed for Frontier Land to watch the parade. It seemed like a really long parade but was very good. Lots of the usual floats but also roller skaters between them. It was ended with Santa in his sleigh.

The freebies for this event BTW were hot chocolate and cookies. Not as good as the trick or treating at Halloween so no huge bag of candie to bring home. I thought they could have given our candie canes or similar but sadly not.

As soon as the parade was over we decided to head home having done all we wanted and having very tired feet from being on them all day (and you know how we pound that park!) As we got to the exit we had managed to catch up with the parade but about half way through so we thought we may have to wait and watch it all again (Paul felt it was like some sort of spooky time travel!). Thankfully, there was a gap where the cast let those who wanted to leave through and the parade had to wait.

We headed out of the car park at about 11:30, having got the monorail back to the parking lot again. It was not too busy so we got home quickly.

Today (Weds) the weather is cloudy with some sun struggling through. Paul has been for a swim whilst I type all this and later we are going to Epcot. We are gluttons for punishment but have to make the most of these annual tickets now we have them!

More again tomorrow…..

Todays update is written by Cindy for a change!

Yesterday we got up reasonably early again and had a leisurely breakfast at the villla, eventually setting off for Disney about lunchtime.  We headed to Downtown to buy annual passes.  When we were at Guest Relations we asked if we could get a Florida residents discount as we were home owners.  To be able to we would need to get a Florida State ID card, not a dirvers license or Social Security numner.  An english lady next to us showed us hers and said how easy they were to get.  You simply make an appointment at Haynes City and register.  They do take about 4 weeks to come through but defintely worth getting.  Paul and I are defintely going to make an appointment to get them as you can qualify for lots of discounts.  We had to go ahead and buy the full priced Disney pass but the guy on the desk kindly said that if we went back once we had our ID’s he would be able to apply the discount.

We headed straight for Disney’s Hollywood Studios (or MGM as we all know it!) Parking is free with our annual passes which is good.  We got into the park about 1pm and the weather was pretty good.  When the sun was out it was really warm so we sat on a bench and soaked up some rays for a while.  After having some Fairfax Fries (MickyD’s to everyone else) we decided to go over to Little Mermaid.  Since we had just missed a show we thought we’d go to the Great Movie ride.  As we went in we were held back just before the queueing area although it didn’t seem that full.  When we did go in I noticed that everyone in the queueing area was wearing matching Mickey ears.  I thought it was some kind of tour but then Paul spotted they were all “year of a million dreams” ears.  Everyone had been given them as part of the Year of a Million Dreams promotion and we had missed out by litterlally seconds!!  I was so gutted (I really wanted those big ears!).

We then headed over to the new Toy Story ride.  The standby queue was 60 mins and all the fast passes had gone so we had to give it a miss.  We will defintely come back to it in January.

The Back Lot tour also had a longish queue which seemd unusual as the park did not seem that crowded.

We walked right down to Lights, Motors, Action and eventually decided to head into the Muppets.  Only a 5 minute wait and this 3D attraction is still pretty entertaining.

Whilst walking around we saw the area where all the Chirstmas lights are.  They are the Osborne family lights which are nothing to do with Ozzy despite my obsession that they were!!  They are dedicated to some family from Arkansas who used to add more and  more lights to their house each year to entertain their neighbours.  Much more of a heartfelt Disney story than Sharon and Ozzy I suppose!!  We did go back to see the lights when it got dark so more of that later….

We headed into Voyage of the Little Mermaid to see Ariel for the 3:45 show and afterwards headed over to Indiana Jones – well It wouldn’t be MGM without doing Indie.  No changes to the show but just as good as ever.  Epsecially the audience reaction to the “plant” which when you know its a “plant” is even funnier than what he is doing! 

By the time we came out it was starting to cool down so we went for a coffee whilst waiting for it to get dark.  At 6pm the lights were turned on – all 5 million of them!!  They were quite spectacular.  Literally every building was covered in lights as well as trees, Angels, signs etc between buildings.  They then ‘danced’ to the music.  Defintely worth seeing and very Christmasy.  Of course it snowed too – Disney style!

We’d pretty much done all we wanted and were both tired again so decided to skip Fantasmic and head out.  We headed to Celebration to see the nightly snowfall there.  We got there for the 7pm fall (they are hourly).  Since the 6pm fall had already occurred there was foam all over Market street.  It looks really good as you look down the street and see people in T shirts comfotably enjoying snow.  The kids also love it and loads of them were covered in foam, literally rolling in it on the floor!  Celebration always looks good at Christmas and again many houses are really nicely decorated.  Mind you, so are a few on Highgate.

We finsihed the evening off at Applebees.  Then came home exhausted once more!

It’s now Tuesday AM.  Today we are going to the Dolphin hotel for lunch so we can make the most of the weather.  Maybe try to do some  more xmas shopping too.

More soon….

 

We left home around 9am on Saturday morning stopping for a quick bite to eat along the way and arrived at Manchester Airport at 10:45.  We had arranged for meet and greet and the rep was waiting for us.  As we knew we were heading off into the warmth we didn’t really have much to keep us warm, even the journey and the short walk from where we dropped off the car into the terminal was bitterly cold and had us both shivering.

We found the Virgin check-in desk, but decided to see if there were any upgrades available.  We were given the option to upgrade to Upper for £800 per person or we could take the exit seats in Premium for free.  Given the choice and despite Cindy quite happily reaching for her credit card we opted for the exit seats which were then allocated for us.  We then went to the check-in desk, dropped off the cases and got our boarding passes.

Manchester T2 has been fitted with a new security system just before X-ray.  Rather than have a person check your boarding passes this is now automated, with barriers similar to those found at train stations, that you have to present your ticket to in order for the barriers to open and let you through.  There was little or no queue so either the systems works very well or the airport was just quiet.

We were quickly through security and had a coffee before looking through the Duty Free shops.  It was almost time to board but I spotted that the IRIS registration office was open.  IRIS is a system to expedite your return into the UK by having your IRIS scanned; you can then go through the IRIS booths on return which scan your eyes and then lets you through (assuming it finds a match).  IRIS is available in most of the UK airports so it should be of use whenever we travel.  We registered relatively quickly, Cindy clearly being able to keep her eyes open and still much better then me as she registered in 2 attempts and yet mine took about a dozen!

We boarded and pushed back on time at 1:30.  The cabin crew announced the flight time was due to be 9 hours 30 minutes which is a long flight but also announed there were some issues with heating but it should sort itself out within a few minutes,  Well we spent nearly the entire flight shivering.  It was litterally freezing (it felt like absolute zero)!  The crew offered us an extra blanket but even this wasn’t enought to keep us warm.  We donned every bit of available clothing but it still meant we had a pretty miserable flight.  The icing on the cake was the crew offering Ice-Cream! – Hot chocolate would have been more appropriate.  We’d also forgotten about the dinner service being crammed onto a prison style tray – we missed our table cloth, individual airoplane shaped salt and pepper pots and waitress service for each course!

We landed at Orlando just after 6:15pm and managed to get off the plane pretty quickly.  We had an empty imigration hall so went through pretty quickly.  We then had to wait about 20 minutes for the case belt to even start.

We had car hire arranged at Dollar which had a short line.  We opted for the ‘economy’ model so had to endure 20 questions about upgrades and extras.  Oh and be warned Orlando Airport has started to charge a mandatory $12.50 plus tax facility charge!  It was in the small print of my documents but still an additional charge.   The car we got wasn’t small, just missing the usual facilities such as central locking and electric windows and mirrors – Still it goes (just!).

We stopped of at Denny’s for a quick bite to eat and I am glad to say that the outside temperature was warm enough to warm us through by the time we arrived.

As we were tired we bought the bare minimum groceries and got to the house at around 9pm and hit the sack pretty much straight away.

We both managed to sleep through to 8am on Sunday and got up, got ready and went over to Downtown Disney for breakfast at McDonalds.  We then walked around Downtown Disney and then went over to Millenia.

Neiman Marcus had a shoe sale on again and Cindy bought her first pair of Christian Louboutin’s (www.christianlouboutin.com) with their distinct red soles.  We then bought a few Xmas pressies before buying a diamond half eternity ring for Cindy.  Well that was an expensive visit!

We went home briefly before going out for Dinner at Longhorn – We were intending to go and see the snowfall at Celebration but we were both so tired and so went home and hit the sack again.

Sunday was sunny but a little cool (only reaching the mid 60’s).  Monday promises to be warmer, reaching 71, and then from Tuesday it looks very warm, although some rain is expected mid-week.

We are planning to go off to a park Monday and will update the blog later.